UNIT 6: DEVELOPING COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES AND INDICATORS

UNIT 6: DEVELOPING COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES AND INDICATORS

This Unit highlights the importance of ensuring that communication response activities are accompanied by Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound (SMART) communication objectives that are measured by appropriate SMART indicators.

Indicators are succinct measures that aim to describe how the program is performing. As such, they allow programmers to assess what is working and what needs to be improved. Importantly, communication objectives and indicators should be part of an M&E plan that supports the communication response.

Having completed this unit, you will have the following tools to assist you in establishing SMART communication objectives with appropriate indicators. These will support the development of your M&E plan.

? Worksheet 6.1: Defining SMART Objectives

? Worksheet 6.2: Developing SMART Indicators

What are Communication Objectives and Indicators?

Communication objectives are the desired results of an SBCC intervention, and are generally related to changes in the audiences' knowledge, thoughts, beliefs, feelings, skills or behaviors. Communication objectives are used to guide the development and direction of an SBCC intervention. The objectives should contribute to achieving the goal of bringing the emergency under control.

Indicators reflect how the SBCC interventions will be measured, and include variables that mark the change or progress toward achieving the objectives. For example, indicators can be used to measure factors such as the reach and quality of the intervention, and any influences on behavior such as knowledge, beliefs, feelings or practices. Indicators can therefore provide valuable information as to how the SBCC response is progressing, and they can highlight areas for improvement or change that need to be made to obtain the desired results. In an emergency, attention should be given to establishing indicators that can be collected easily.

Key Steps for Developing Communication Objectives and Indicators

1. Identify SMART Communication Objectives 2. Establish Appropriate SMART Indicators 3. Establish a Reference Point 4. Set Targets 5. Determine the Frequency of Data Collection and Sharing 6. Link Objectives and Indicators to the M&E Plan

Identify SMART Communication Objectives Should an emergency occur, countries will need to develop a set of communication objectives. If countries have explored qualitative and quantitative studies about household behaviors, cultural and social norms that govern behaviors, traditional beliefs, health seeking practices, knowledge about key health information and media habits in advance, and expanded that information base with data about the emergency, then developing these objectives will be fairly straightforward. As indicated previously, communication objectives concisely describe desired changes in the audiences as a result of seeing, hearing, participating in or having heard about a specific SBCC intervention. Behavioral factors that influence these changes include (but are not limited to) knowledge, thoughts, beliefs, feelings or practices. Communication objectives should be developed according to the audiences' communication needs linked to the emergency and should address the factors most likely to contain the outbreak as determined by the program objectives. Unit 2: Rapid Needs Assessment, Unit 4: Audience Analysis and Segmentation and Unit 5: Audience Profiling can help you develop appropriate, evidence-based communication objectives.

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Communication objectives need to be SMART. The acronym SMART, described below, is used to highlight some important criteria that help focus the objective and monitor progress.

Specific: The objective should clearly define the expected outcome and should answer questions such as who is

involved what will be achieved and where. A specific objective will help define activities.

Measurable: The objective should include an indicator of progress and should answer questions such as how

often or how much. This will determine whether the objective is achieved.

Attainable: The expected change defined in the objective should be realistic within the given timeframe and

with the available resources.

Relevant: The objective should contribute to achieving the overall program goal. This will support developing

activities that are important to the program.

Time-bound: The objective should include a timeframe for achieving the desired change.

An easy way of developing measurable communication objectives is to ask the following three questions: ? What do you want your audience to do? ? When do you want your audience to do it? ? What is the benefit to the audience if they do what you want them to do?

Examples of SMART objectives are listed in Table 8 below, together with the behavioral factor each aims to influence. The third column of the table provides sample indicators to measure progress towards achieving the objective (discussed later in this Unit).

Table 8: SMART Communication Objectives with Behavioral Factors and Sample Indicators

Communication Objective

Within the next three months, all households in Community X will know the importance of washing hands with soap to stop the spread of cholera. Within the next six months, handwashing with soap among households in Community X will have increased from 55% to 95%. Within the next six months, all CHWs in Community X will counsel household members on the importance of handwashing with soap to prevent cholera.

Behavioral Factors Being Addressed Knowledge

Behavior

Service provision

Example Indicators

Percentage of households that know about the importance of washing their hands with soap Percentage of households washing their hands with soap

Number of CHWs trained to counsel household members to practice handwashing in Community X

To establish SMART objectives, keep the following in mind:

? Prioritize behaviors that will have the greatest impact in meeting emergency control and prevention objectives.

? Use only one action verb in each objective. Using several verbs implies that several activities and/or behaviors are being measured.

? Be specific about the target population and the behavior or issue being addressed by the objective.

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? Consider that, during an emergency, the availability of products and services necessary to practice the behaviors promoted by the objectives may be affected.

? Remember that it may be necessary to develop different objectives for each phase of the emergency. Some objectives will therefore have a short timeframe, while others may have a longer one.

Exercise: Assessing Your Communication Objectives Once you have developed communication objectives, you can use Worksheet 6.1 to assess whether they are SMART and to identify how to improve them.

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WORKSHEET 6.1: DEFINING SMART OBJECTIVES

Purpose: This worksheet will help you assess whether the communication objectives you have developed are SMART.

Directions: Write each communication objective you have developed and verify it is SMART using the check list. Use the checklist to identify the areas of the communication objective which need to be improved in order for it to be SMART

Please note that this worksheet is followed by a completed example that you can use as reference if necessary.

Program Goal:

______________________________________________________________________

Communication Objective 1:

___________________________________________________________

Review the above communication objective against the criteria below:

Criteria for Assessing the Objective

Yes No

Is the communication objective SMART?

Is the objective Specific? (Is the target population, geographic location and the activity required of them clear?) Is the objective Measurable (Is the amount of expected change defined?)

Is the objective Attainable? (Can it be achieved within the timeframe

stated and with the resources available?)

Is the objective Relevant? (Does it contribute to the overall program

goal?)

Is the objective Time--bound? (Is the timeframe for achieving the

objective stated?)

Does the objective relate to a single result?

Is the objective clearly written? (Are the desired action and outcome

clear?)

If you have answered "No" to any of the above question on the checklist, you should redefine the

objective to ensure if fits all the above criteria.

Improved Communication Objective:

__________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

Establish Appropriate SMART Indicators Once SMART communication objectives have been established, it is important to track their progress by identifying related indicators. Specifically, indicators contain succinct measures with numerical value so trends can be identified and comparisons can be made. Commonly, indicators are expressed in percentages, rates or ratios.

A program can use many indicators to assess different types and levels of change that result from the intervention. Generally speaking, indicators are used to measure different areas of program implementation and come in three types:

? Input indicators: These indicators are related to resources, contributions and investments that go into a program.

? Output indicators: This term refers to activities, services, events and product that reach the priority and influencing audiences.

? Outcomes: This term refers to changes in the priority and influencing audiences.

Input and output indicators provide information about the scope and quality of activities being implemented. They belong to the category of process indicators and used to monitor program implementation.

Outcome indicators measure changes towards progress of results. They belong to the category of performance indicators and are used to evaluate the outcome, effects and impact of an intervention. Table 9 below summarizes the different types and categories of indicators.

Table 9: Program Indicators by Category and Type Including Examples

Indicator Category

Process Indicators (Monitoring Indicators)

Indicator Type Input indicators

Examples

? Number of CHWs in the program Funding for activities

? Equipment

Output indicators

? Number of trainings conducted Number of leaflets distributed

? Percentage of audience segment reached by radio spots

? Number of individuals counseled

Outcome Indicators (Evaluation Indicators)

Outcome indicators

? Percentage of knowledge increase among target audience

? Percentage of target audience practicing the desired behavior

Like with communication objectives, indicators also need to be SMART. Worksheet 6.2 provides some guidance on how to develop SMART indicators.

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